Second Day as a Family
by Fox Mcloud SNR
Summary: With Tigress back at the palace and a daughter they both love life couldn't be better for the Dragon Warrior. But there are still some unresolved issues between the two in this, the final installment in this trilogy dealing with Tigress's abandonment of Po and later reconciliation


**Yep, we're doing this again. I wanted to finish of this little series while I was in the mood for writing so here it is! If you're new here and just decided to click this out of curiosity then hi! It's nice to have you, this is a sequel to 'First Day as a Family' which is a sequel to another of my stories titled 'Leaving Loved One Behind', if you're interested in this story then I would recommend reading those first as they are the first two parts of the story.**

**Second Day as a Family**

It was only the first night since Tigress had come back, everything was peaceful and everybody was sleeping nicely in their respective rooms.

A loud cry rang throughout the barracks waking up all the residents. "Ohhhhh, someone shut that baby up!" groaned Mantis, he dragged a pillow over his head in order to cover up the sound and in the room opposite him Monkey was doing the same thing.

Crane and Viper woke up next to each other in the snake's room, "Is this going to be a recurring thing with their baby?" asked Crane groggily, Viper hissed sleepily next to him, "Don't speak so loud Crane! Someone might hear you". He rolled over to look at her, "Why? would that be a problem?" he asked, "I'd just rather wait until the time is right". Crane sighed irritably, "Okay fine" he huffed.

Meanwhile at the source of the crying was Liánhuā who was lying inside Shifu's old cot and bawling her eyes out, her father Po the Dragon Warrior moaned restlessly and sat up, "D'ya want me to see to her?" asked Tigress who was still half asleep which caused her words to clumsily jumble together "No its finnee", Po rubbed some sleep out of his eyes, "It's okay Tigress, I might as well start sometime".

Po got up out of bed but immediately fell onto his face due to having no feeling in his leg, "Are you alright Po?" asked Tigress who had heard the thud, Po rubbed his nose painfully, "Yeah fine". He got up after his legs regained their use and stumbled over to Liánhuā, he slowly picked her up and hugged and rocked her gently, having her cry right next to his ear was very uncomfortable for him and he winced from the pain.

He shushed her gently and continued to rock her slightly but to no avail, Po's exhaustion riddled brain suddenly had an idea, Po walked over to his and Tigress's bed and climbed in whilst still holding the child, he woke Tigress up by prodding her with a free hand she grumbled in her sleep "Po, I had this for months can you just handle it this one time?", Po grunted tiredly at her, "Look, just listen to me I think this might be why she's crying".

He laid down next to Tigress and got her to move close to him, when they were a tight knit unit Liánhuā suddenly settled down and stopped crying, Po sighed gratefully, "Thank the gods" he breathed trying not to wake her up again, "Okay Tigress I'll keep her with us so we've got to be careful not to crush her in our sleep OK?", Tigress looked up at him with half-lidded eyes, "Po you have no idea how attractive you're being right now". Po smiled at her, they found the embrace of sleep come for them once again and they did not resist it.

XXXXXXXX

Po woke up suddenly with a snort, he felt a severe sense of loneliness before he felt the warm forms both next to him and in his soft arms. He took deep breaths to calm himself down, he never wanted to be away from his new family ever again, the thought terrified him and made him sick to his stomach, _"It's okay Po, they're here and they won't go anywhere"_ he thought to reassure himself.

Liánhuā made a noise and Po looked down at her like it was the first time ever seeing her, it was his first morning with her and he never wanted to forget this image. The sun was shining through the windows, the love of his life was next to him and she had never looked more beautiful to him and to top it all off his cute daughter was in his arms and completely safe.

The gong rung to pierce the serenity and ruin the moment for them all, Po sighed irritably and heard the other masters get up in their other rooms unusually though he heard a panicked rush in Viper's room, he'd have to ask her about that later when he got the chance. Tigress stirred and she opened her eyes to see Po holding their daughter and beaming down towards her, there wasn't another perfect to be found in her opinion.

"Good morning handsome" said Tigress happily, "Morning Tigress" Po replied just as happily, Tigress got on her knees and kissed Liánhuā on the forehead, "And how's my little angel this morning?" she cooed. Liánhuā giggled happily at the sight of her parents together, this baby just seemed to naturally know that she was better off if both of her parents were together.

"We'd better get up, Shifu can still be pretty merciless with what time we wake up" Po said with a smirk. Tigress tugged on his arm, "It can wait for a few seconds, I'm sure if I pout at Shifu and let him see the cuteness of the baby it will sway him". There was a soft knock on the door, Tigress and Po looked at each other both already knew who it was.

The door opened and Shifu was revealed with the rest of the Furious Five standing behind him, they were trying not to show it but you could see that they were all trying to peek into the room. Tigress and Po got up out of the bed to show respect to Shifu, Po handed Liánhuā over to Tigress. Shifu's eyes automatically drifted towards the recently built cot that was sitting in the corner of the room.

"Ahhh I see you managed to assemble the cot by yourselves then" Shifu observed proudly, Po put his hands on his hips and puffed his chest out proudly, "Just another victory for the Dragon Warrior" he declared, Shifu smirked, "Well how many attempts did it take you honestly Po?". Tigress walked up with Liánhuā, "He did it the first time attempting it Master Shifu" she said proudly. A glint of envy flitted through Shifu's eye for a brief moment, "I'm glad" he said simply, when Shifu had done it it had taken him a few tries. Shifu clapped his hands together to indicate that he was changing the subject, "Now we should discuss how we are to proceed with your training, I'd like for you Tigress to immediately resume your training here at the Jade Palace".

Tigress looked awkwardly at Po, the previous day's events along with the revelation that Liánhuā hated fighting would make it difficult for the two to continue their duties as the defenders of the Valley of Peace. They still wanted to however and with Liánhuā's presence they had more of a reason to now more than ever.

"Well Master Shifu….the thing is" Po started awkwardly while rubbing the back of his neck, "Yes what is it?" asked Shifu, "Whenever we spar in front of Liánhuā she cries, and neither of us want to send her away when we're training" Po replied. Shifu thought for a second, "Well, I could watch her for you if that would make things easier" the red panda suggested.

"Are you sure Master?" asked Tigress, Shifu nodded "I'd be happy to look after her, after all it will give me some time to spend with her and I'll make sure that she is safe". Happy with that suggestion Po and Tigress both nodded and followed Shifu and the Five into the kitchen to get something to eat. Po made them all some noodles and dumplings, it felt like the old days before Tigress had left and everybody felt a serenity that they hadn't felt with each other for a long time.

Monkey decided to ask Tigress the question that had all been dying to know since she had come back, he wiped his mouth on his arm before speaking, "So Tigress, where exactly did you go while you were pregnant? And why did you leave?". Tigress's stomach dropped and her heart skipped a beat at being asked that, she looked at Po who started to look uncomfortable at the prospect of hearing what she had been doing while away from him. any reminder that she had basically deserted him for over a year was devastating to him. Tigress reached out and grabbed his paw to reassure him, he looked at her and smiled gratefully.

"I've already told Mr Ping this" she began, she remembered the tense standoff between Po, her and Mr Ping yesterday. "I left you all because I was scared of the consequences of bearing Po's child, I thought that he would resent me", she felt Po's paw tighten around hers to remind her of how wrong she was. "I thought that Shifu would be angry with the pair of us for disobeying the rules he set within the Jade Palace", Shifu felt some guilt at rules he had set in blind rage many years ago, "But most of all" she concluded, "I was scared because I was never taught or told anything about childbirth or how to raise a child".

"Well at least Po knows how what a kid needs" quipped Mantis, Po looked at him questioningly, "And why's that Mantis?". "Because you've got a child's mind Po", everyone laughed at that, Po punched Mantis across the table. Mantis grunted in pain and yelled out "Damn it!", Po immediately covered Liánhuā 's ears with his paws.

A hushed silence fell throughout the room, Mantis immediately covered his mouth. Tigress stood up calmly and walked over to Mantis, "Po would you mind carrying on covering our little angel's ears" she said sweetly, Po nodded and silently prayed for Mantis. From Liánhuā's point of view she saw her mother start to yell at the loud bug thing and everyone else cringe at the words used.

The baby looked up at her daddy, who was wearing a worried face, when he noticed Liánhuā looking up at him he smiled at her sweetly whilst keeping a worried eye on her mother. When Tigress had finished she sat back down calmly and kissed the baby on the forehead, Po removed his paws from her ears, "I'd suggest watching your language around her from now on" he advised.

"Who Tigress or the kid?" asked Crane, Po looked at him grimly, "Pick one", "No kidding" groaned Mantis. Shifu gestured towards Tigress, "Please continue Tigress, where exactly did you go during all that time?". Tigress took a deep breath and explained.

"I left the Valley and immediately made my way to the next village across, I wanted to get far away from the Valley of Peace but stay close enough so the journey back with her would not be difficult. A old couple graciously allowed me to stay in their home until I gave birth, for those months I got bigger and bigger and I missed Po so badly", Tigress gave a heartfelt gaze towards Po.

"Eventually the day came, I felt the contractions start and I went through eight hours of the most intense agony I've ever experienced, luckily the couple knew what they were doing so they made the experience as swift and as painless as they possibly could", Tigress picked Liánhuā up and held her close to her chest tightly, "But she was worth every second of it". Everyone's hearts were warmed by that story and it gave a lot of context to the situation.

Tigress quickly stood up, "I think I've bored you enough with that story, I'll just go and change her and then we can get to training" when she got to the doorway she turned around with a soft smile on her face, "You have no idea how much I've missed this", she then turned around and left.

Po looked down at the table, he definitely felt a bit worse for shouting at her yesterday now, especially after hearing that story. He looked up and saw that everyone was looking at him, "Hmmmm, what?" he mumbled, "Monkey asked you if you were alright Po" said Viper.

Po nodded, he got up and pushed his chair in, "I'm ready for some training, who's with me?" he asked. The others agreed and followed him out.

XXXXXXX

Po pushed the doors to the Training Hall open and felt his stomach move at the excitement of seeing Tigress begin her training again, the warrior part of Po wanted to see if he could actually manage to defeat her in a fight after all the hours he had put in since she had left.

The panda began his stretches, the others joined him and they too shared his enthusiasm towards Tigress, "So, things are finally getting back to normal then Po?" Asked Viper, Po nodded, "It's like she never left! Apart from one disturbance last night was the best I'd slept in months!"

Po suddenly remembered, "Ah, that reminds me Viper I meant to ask you something!" The snake stopped her regime and looked at him, she assumed it would be related to something like Liánhuā but she was wrong. "What was that noise coming from your room this morning?" he asked innocently, Viper's face fell as soon as the words had left his lips, Crane's face completely drained of color.

"I d-don't know what you mean Po" Viper replied trying to put on a false air on confidence, Po looked at her oddly, "It happened just before Shifu came into my room, you didn't hear it?" Viper shook her head quickly, "No, nothing like that!" Po nodded apparently convinced.

He turned and saw Crane looking incredibly worried, "Hey Crane, what's the matter with you?" Crane looked at Po like he had only just noticed that he was there, he copied Viper and tried to look confident, due to his natural neurotic personality however he was worse at it, "N-nothing Po, I...I think it's just my stomach being bad".

Po looked at him sympathetically, "Sorry Crane if my cooking did that to you", Po walked off towards the apparatus in the room, Crane called out after him "It's fine Po! I'm sure it'll get better", Viper slid over to him, "That was a close one Crane".

The avian nodded, "Why can't we just be honest with them Viper?" Viper shook her head, "No Crane, everyone has a lot going on right now with the baby, besides I don't think Master Shifu would approve". Before Crane could reply Tigress walked into the Hall carrying a very happy looking Liánhuā and with Shifu next to her.

Po heard them come in and ran over to see them. "This is the Training Hall baby, this is where Mommy and Daddy train to fight off the bad guys!" Tigress said softly, Liánhuā giggled at her mother's sentence.

Tigress handed her to Shifu, the sight was rather ludicrous at first seeing as how Shifu was only just bigger than Liánhuā, also Shifu looked incredibly uncomfortable with holding her. It could have been because the last time he had been holding a child like this was during the time he raised Tai Lung or maybe it was due to nerves at having to spend an entire day with his new granddaughter, nobody knew or asked.

Po gave Shifu a confident smile, "You'll be okay right Shifu?", the red panda nodded," I believe I will panda, I've done this before, just concentrate on your training!" With that Shifu left the Training Hall to begin the daycare session.

Po's gaze didn't leave the door for several seconds, he felt a paw on his shoulder, he didn't even need to guess whose it was. "I know I'm worrying over nothing Tigress, it's just...it's the first time I've seen her go somewhere without me or you", "I know Po, I trust Shifu implicitly and I know he will do everything within his power to make sure that she is safe and cared for".

Po nodded and took a deep breath, "I believe you owe me a spar Tigress" he said cockily, he turned around and Tigress saw the old Po's fire in his eyes. "Yeah, it's a god thing Liánhuā's gone" she replied, Po raised an eyebrow, "Why?" Tigress walked into the sparring area and got into the primary stance of the Tiger style, "Because she wouldn't like to see daddy getting beaten by her mommy".

The others gathered around and watched, they knew they were neglecting their own training for this but similarly to Po they also wanted to see how well Tigress could still fight after the months of baby sitting. Po slowly walked into the arena and stood opposite Tigress, now he could finally work out his frustrations from yesterday in the only way he knew how to.

"Hey Crane" said Po without taking his eyes off of Tigress, "Yeah Po?" the avian replied, "Would you mind giving us a count in?" the avian nodded. Po relaxed his inner spirit and remembered to not to take it easy on Tigress just because of their past, she could still be a tricky fighter if underestimated, "Are you both ready?" Crane asked, both combatants nodded confidently, Crane raised his wing over his head, he waited a couple of seconds before..."BEGIN!"

Po planted his foot in the ground to steady himself because he knew full well what Tigress's first move would be, as predicted she dived at Po (A low slower then he was expecting admittedly) and jabbed towards his face quickly. Po raised his arms in front of his face to block it, he felt Tigress's hard palm hit his forearms and he grunted from the force.

Po sidestepped around her swiftly and pushed Tigress with his foot, he caught her completely off guard and she stumbled forwards. Po followed up by kicking the back of her legs and then getting her into a tight headlock. The others looked on in shock, "I never thought I'd see the day! Po completely dominated Tigress in a fight!" Quipped Mantis, "NICE WORK BIG GUY!" He yelled to Po.

"I can't believe how fast he finished" said Monkey, a grin grew on his face, "Our little, fat panda is finally growing up" he chuckled and wiped away a fake tear. Crane and Viper expressed concern however, "Did you see how vicious he was?" He whispered to Viper, she nodded without looking away, "I know, he didn't even hesitate. Tigress might as well have been someone like Temutai or Shen."

Meanwhile in the ring neither combatant was focusing on the words of their comrades. Tigress tried to pull Po's tree-trunk like forearm away from her throat but to no avail, _"W-what is he doing? I can't breath!" _Though Tigress in a panic. She resorted to using claws on him, she unsheathed them and dug them into his arms.

She drew blood and she heard him grunt but he didn't let go, Tigress pushed off of the ground with all of her strength and Po onto his back, the panda gasped and let go of her. Tigress rolled off of him and panted heavily, she gave a fearsome look to Po who looked shocked at his actions.

Po quickly got up and reached out towards her, "Tigress...I'm so sorry I don't know what happ-" Tigress immediately punched him in the face, she heard the Five come up behind her but she kept her eyes on Po, "Are you okay Tigress?" Viper asked her voice coated in concern, "I'm fine" she muttered in reply. Po sat up and touched the spot where she had hit him.

Tigress hissed at him angrily, "What is wrong with you!?" Po blinked at her for a second before hanging his head low and muttering "Sorry." Tigress growled and thrust her finger under his face, "Sorry!? That's all you have to say!? You could have killed me in your rage!" Po couldn't look her in the face and tried to hug her. After the previous experience being close to Po Tigress dodged out of the way, he looked at her with hurt filled eyes, "No" she said.

Po's face dropped, "What?" he said quietly, "I don't want you near me or Liánhuā now I know you can lose yourself that easily!" She yelled. The others all drew breath in quickly, Tigress clenched her fist and left the Training Hall.

Po watched her retreating figure with tears threatening to leave his eyes, he closed them and hit the ground in pain. "Not again! I can't lose her again!" He wailed, Monkey walked over to him and put his hand on Po's shoulder, "What was that about Po? Why did you lose it like that? And why did it happen so quickly?"

Po sighed and stood up. "You guys don't know how badly it hurt me when she left the first time" Viper nodded, "We do Po we all felt-", he looked at her darkly, "No. You don't" he replied which immediately shut Viper up.

"I sometimes get overwhelmingly angry or scared and I have to go off by myself somewhere to calm myself down, it happens whenever I think about what Tigress did, it happened this morning when I thought she wasn't there, it's a good thing she _was_ there or I might have lost it then." Po's shoulders slumped, "It's why I was so cruel to you guys when we trained, I'm so sorry."

Crane sighed, "Po, you can't keep that kind of anger to yourself, why didn't you talk to any of us about it? We're your friends! We could've helped you!" Po shook his head, "I felt like I deserved it because I though I'd done something to make her leave". "But you didn't!" Yelled Viper, Po sighed, "I know! And know she's leaving again because I can't get over something!"

"That's not true Po, you can still go and make it right. Find Tigress and explain to her why this happened today" said Mantis with no hint of humor in his voice for a rare bout of seriousness. Po shook his head, "Why bother? Why should I if there's the slightest hint of this happening again? I would rather die then hurt either Tigress of Liánhuā!" Viper slithered over and hugged him, "We can help you Po, all you have to do is ask, that's all you've ever had to do."

Po's defenses broke down and he let a few tears crawl down his face, he sniffled and quickly wiped them away. "You're right! I CAN fix this!" Po said with a small smile.

He ran towards the exit but stopped, he looked over his shoulder at his friends "Thank you" he said simply before running out. Viper, Crane and Monkey watched the panda run out before they heard a sniffle behind them, they whipped around and saw Mantis hastily cover up his crying, "What are you upset for Mantis?" asked Monkey.

"S-sorry, it's just that I love happy endings" Monkey patted him on the back reassuringly "It's not over yet" commented Crane.

XXXXXX

Po jumped onto the Training Hall's roof and looked around the grounds to see where Tigress had gone to, his gaze hovered over the Peach Tree of Wisdom and he saw a figure looking onto the Valley, he squinted and he could see that the shape was definitely female, Po leaped off of the roof and started a fast walk over to the tree.

Po reached the stairs leading up to it and his heart started hammering against his rib-cage. Every one of his steps felt heavy and it felt like the first time he had approached her like this just after they had fought Shen.

The panda reached the top and saw that it was indeed Tigress standing with her arms folded and with her back to him, he gulped and walked over to her. "Stop" she commanded, her voice wasn't loud but it still held all of the authority from the years of being the Furious Five's leader.

Po stopped and she turned around, her face showed no emotion but her eyes gave away a small amount of sadness. "What do you want Po?" she asked, he looked away from her out of shame, just looking at her reminded himself of the animal he had become just a few minutes ago, "I want to talk to you Tigress" he replied.

The air was thick with tension, neither party hated each other but there was definitely something unspoken between them that needed to be addressed. "About what?", Po looked at her, "You know what."

She sighed and went to turn around again, "Look Po, if you're just going to apologize again then just don't, that isn't enough and I'm moving into a different area of the barracks with Liánhuā so you don't do _that _again" Po's heart broke, "No" he said quietly, she looked away from him because of the guilt she felt at upsetting him again.

"I'm sorry Po, but I can't have you doing that around her." She looked at him and saw he looked completely defeated, his shoulders were slumped and Po looked like he wanted to jump off of a cliff. She bit the inside of her lip "I'm sorry Po" she muttered, she went to walk away but Po grabbed her arm tightly.

"Please don't leave me again Tigress, I don't want to be that angry ever again!" Po said tearfully, the pain that he had been hiding ever since she had originally left had finally surfaced. Po let go of her arm and started to cry in front of her. Tigress watched him bare his soul in front of her and she no idea what to do,

Tigress hugged him tightly and felt tears reach her eyes, "I swear to you Po, I will never leave ever again, those months I spent away from you were some of the loneliest times of my life, believe me I don't want to repeat any of them as long as I live", they stayed that way for what felt like forever, for the two of them they could have stayed that way forever and it would have been fine with them. Po kept saying "I'm sorry" into her shoulder while Tigress kept shushing him to tell him that it was okay.

Po pulled away and decided to ask her something else that had been on his mind, he had been thinking about it ever since Tigress had brought it up yesterday just before their failed attempt at a friendly spar. "Tigress" Po started, she rested her head on his shoulder and got an "Mmmmm" as an acknowledgment, Po tensed up, this type of conversation had made him uncomfortable in the days before she had left and nothing had changed, Tigress had always loved making Po blush.

She felt his thick muscles tense up, she was impressed by how much he had bulked up since she had been gone but a wave of sadness hit her as she remembered the reason why he had thrown himself into such a hard-core training regime, "Tigress, where do we go from here?".

Po felt Tigress frown into his shoulder, she pulled out and looked at him worriedly. "What do you mean? I thought you were happy about having a daughter with me?", Po nodded quickly. "Of course I am, I've haven't been so happy about something since you said yes to a date with me". Tigress smiled at the memory.

They had just gotten off of the boat from Gongmen after Po had beaten the insane, megalomaniac peacock Lord Shen. Po had nervously asked her out to get something to eat with him and they spent the rest of the evening at Dragon Warrior Noodles & Tofu eating noodles and talking to each other.

"No what I'm asking about is us." Po said seriously, "Do you want to be an 'us' again?" Tigress's heart skipped a beat, she had hoped he would love their child but she never though he would take her back so willingly. "Why Po?" she said flippantly, Po's face fell immediately and she knew she had worded the question horribly.

"No Po you misunderstand" she quickly said, Tigress took a deep breath and grabbed his paw. "I mean why would you want to be with me when what I did was wrong? I thought about you all the time and it killed me to not be with you when I needed you and it eats me up that I let my fear and weight of the responsibility get the better of me" She felt shameful after explaining why, she hated showing weakness in front of anyone and laying her heart to tell Po of her fears and insecurities went against everything she had told herself to do when she had trained with Shifu all those years ago.

Po's paw immediately went to her face and "I mean...I never stopped loving you Tigress, not even at my lowest could I ever hate you", Po blushed and Tigress's heart skipped a beat. _"D-did he really just say that?"_ Tigress thought wildly, she had been avoiding discussing it ever since coming back purely out of the fear that Po was still too hurt to even consider taking her back.

Po noticed her silence and fear slowly crawled into his heart like a parasite, "Tigress, I understand" he said sadly. Po went to walk away but Tigress was still holding onto his paw and she wouldn't let go, Po pulled gently but she suddenly yanked his arm hard and pulled him straight back to her. Tigress kissed him passionately, "I love you too Po, you have no idea how much I wanted to hear you say that, I never thought you would I'm going to show you how much it means to me that you did later." She said seductively.

Po felt a shiver ride up his spine, he chuckled nervously and blushed heavily, he saw Tigress smirking bemusedly at him so he decided to get his revenge. "Hottest mother ever" Po said with a grin, Tigress blushed, "Shut up Po", Po laughed heartily, he backed her into the Sacred Peach Tree of Wisdom. "What? You don't like it when I'm forward?" he said evilly, Tigress felt a hot flush come over her, she had never seen Po this confident when it came to intimacy. "I-I guess I'm just not used to it" she stuttered, Po smirked, Tigress rarely stuttered.

Po softly grabbed her chin and tilted it upwards so he could look into her eyes, "I love you Tigress" he said softly, the previous time was more flippant but now he said it with every amount of love and warmth that he could, Tigress

Po picked his daughter up and hugged her tightly, it was the first time he had truly held her and now he never wanted to let her go. He knew from that moment on that he would protect her from whatever would seek to harm her, he would always be there for her no matter the lengths he would have to go to.

He looked at Tigress once more who responded with a look of love and Po knew that it would be a good life...the best life.

**THE END**

**I hope you enjoyed this little series, I may consider doing another one if I can find a reason to. At the moment the small trilogy is complete and the character's stories and subplots have come full circle so I don't see a reason to, maybe one where their daughter is grown up? Anyway regardless of this I hope you enjoyed it. **

**If you liked this you could also read another series I'm doing at the moment called 'The Dragon Warrior Blues' which is my love letter to the series 'Cowboy Bebop'. It's basically the stories of that anime but translated into stories that are based in the world of Kung Fu Panda.**


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